Overland to Tibet Attractions & Activities - The Best Holiday Destinations for 2020
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This article is an itinerary.
There are four overland routes to Lhasa from the four cardinal directions. Two will not be discussed here:
For more on those, and on the routes below, see the Tibet article and the Tibetan journeys itinerary.
What we will describe here are routes from central China:
- by rail, using the new Qinghai-Tibet railway, the world's highest railway line, with oxygen pump into the cabin
- by road from the north, starting at Golmud, Qinghai
- by road from the east, from Kunming, Yunnan or from Chengdu, Sichuan (The Tibet Tea Road) ? see more out-of-the-way places
- overland to Zhongdian, then fly to Lhasa ? see a lot without blowing the budget
- by land or air from Kathmandu (Nepal)
For any route, you need travel permits for each area you visit. The Chinese government restricts access to Tibet; in theory, you can only get a permit as part of an organized tour group. In practice, some tour operators will take your money, get you the permit, and be happy if you go off on your own. Also, some local police stations will happily issue permits for their area, sometimes cheaper than the tour operators. For details, see the Tibet article. Some travelers have gone without the permits, some have gotten away with it, but this no longer possible or advised. If you are caught you will be detained, fined and sent back at your own expense. Still you can go there as a single traveller, but only "organized".
For any route, you need to consider the risks of altitude sickness. Lhasa is at 3660 meters (12,000 feet). Most of the passes and some inhabited plateau areas are over 5000 meters (16,500 feet).
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Overland to Tibet